Tag: reading

Hello everyone, already in your holiday mood or still lingering in the melancholy Autumn mood?

Either way here we are and today we are talking about my favorite early Autumn/Fall makeup.

Here is the list of product I will give you a mini review:

1- Effaclar BB Blur Cream Mousse with SPF 20

2- Too Faced Better Than SexMascara

3- Benefit Hoola Bronzer

4- Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink (shade 15 Lover)

• Effaclar BB Blur Cream Mousse with SPF 20 is the perfect ally for a light makeup during your days off or for people who hate using foundation with an heavy consistency.

The soft and lovely mousse-like texture feels strange at first, but then it blends effortlessly into your skin, blurring pores and covering other imperfections. The color and light coverage remain beautiful and true all day long. It also offers a lovely light coverage that evens out your complexion in a natural-looking way, even if it can’t cover more noticeable imperfections like dark spots or acne scars.

The only problem of this amazing product is that it only comes in two shades, Fair/Light and Light/Medium. Personally, since I have fair skin, my shade is the first one, and it is perfect, but seriously it should be offered in more options.

Its formula is particularly great for oily skin, because it lightly mattifies your shiny face, but thanks to enough emollient ingredients it’s perfect even for those with normal to combination skin (I would not recommend this to those who have dry skin, because it can leave dry patches on your cheeks).

• Too Faced Better Than Sex is my favorite and most used mascara at the moment.

If you want to add length and volume to your lashes, this is the perfect product for you.

The color is super black, and the formula gives a “WOW” effect to your lashes that last all day, without smudging or clumping them together.

The hourglass-shaped brush separates and curls each lash to a voluptuous perfection, and it is very easy to use.

One or two coats are enough to add noticeable length and volume to your lashes, but with a few extra coats you will have shocking look-at-me lashes.

The formula doesn’t feel greasy or sticky, however it takes longer than usual to dry. But, like I said, once it is set it doesn’t flake and has a superior wear.

I have tested it during the hot and humid Summer months. I have put it on in the early morning and when I came home later in the night it was still there without any leak on the cheeks.

So, I would certainly recommend this mascara, it is a bit pricey but worth your money due to its excellent quality. Moreover, there is a mini size which is a great idea if you want to try it before buying it; it is also half the prize of the regular one and really cute.

• Benefit Hoola Bronzer is my life saver. This powder is very flattering on my fair skin tone, and can add a believable and lovely sun-kissed glow on my face every day, even on a bad day. It is perfect as a bronzer per se, but I also love to use it as a light contour to give tone and shape to my face. Hoola, with its smooth texture and lightly shiny finish, will melt perfectly on your skin. Also, you will only need 2-3 taps from the pot to have a lovely face every day, even the bad ones.

• Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink in the shade 15 (Lover). It comes in many colors and I have bought two of them already, but this is my favorite nude shade for every day.

This liquid lipstick is awesome; you can apply it in the morning and even eat oily food, like pizza, at lunch, or drink frizzy beverage, like Cola or Fanta, and this product will stay intact until you have to wash your face at night, not kidding here. Also, it doesn’t smudge on the corner of your mouth and it doesn’t concentrate in the middle of your lips either, like most of the liquid lipsticks do.

At first it goes on wet and a little sticky, it also takes several minutes to dry properly, but once it sets it stays on all day.

Plus, it doesn’t feel dry, cakey or uncomfortable on your lips.

Moreover, the applicator comes with a pointy tip, which means you can create a sharp lip line without using a lip liner. So, I love Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink but is really a pain to remove; make sure to have a dual phase makeup remover or an oil cleanser on hand.

This is Thanksgiving week, so happy holidays if you are American! For all of us it also means Black Friday is near. I hope you will find great ideas for your shopping list in my blog. Shop ’till you die! (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Something a bit different today: my top 3 books for these last days of summer. I’ve been reading these great novels over the course of the summer, whenever I get to snatch a sunny moment at the beach or a couple of hours before bed. I loved them, so I want to share my reading recommendations with you. Let’s get started with my favorite one:

1 – “Mr. Mercedes” is a novel by Stephen King. This amazing thriller won the 2015 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America, and the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2014 in the “Mystery and Thriller” category. Also, the TV series based on the first book of this trilogy premiered in the USA on August 9, 2017. So, maybe you will want to read the book, before watching the tv series… or maybe not, it’s up to you, but I can assure you that the show is really awesome. Mr. Mercedes is a page turner, a great thriller that set a retired detective against a criminal that got away.

Plot:

Many jobless people are standing in line for a job fair when a Mercedes plows into the crowd killing 8 people and severely injuring many. Bill Hodges, a recently retired detective from the local police department, receives a letter from an individual claiming to be the person responsible for the job fair incident, referring to himself as “Mr.Mercedes”. Hodges is divorced, lonely and fed up with his life, occasionally contemplating suicide. The Mr. Mercedes incident had taken place at the end of Hodges’ career and was still unresolved when he retired. Mr. Mercedes knows details of the murder and also mentions Olivia Trelawney, from whom he had stolen the Mercedes. Olivia had committed suicide soon after the massacre out of guilt. Hodges is intrigued and starts to investigate the case instead of turning the letter over to his former police colleague, Pete Huntley.

This novel is the first part of the Bill Hodges Trilogy, the second book is “Finders Keepers”, and the last one that ends the trilogy is “End of Watch”.

“Mr. Mercedes” is saturated with plot twists and, unlike the others Stephen King’s book, it is more like a detective story than a mystery novel per se, but that that’s why I like it so much. This is really a great thriller with a fair amount of thrill, perfect to read during a relaxing summer holiday. Personally, Ibecame intrigued with the cat and mouse game played between the retired detective and the psychopathic killer. Brady is a compelling villain with a tragic background that makes him one of King’s most memorable bad guys.

Then another ”outside the lines’’ book that may have something in common with The Walking Dead series/graphic novel:

2 – “The Passage” is the first book of a trilogy by Justin Cronin. There are three published books in the series and the first book now will be turned into a tv series. The author wrote both an uncompromisingly and suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger.

Plot:

“The Passage” begins in the near future and details an apocalyptic and, later, post-apocalyptic world that is overrun by vampire-like beings who are infected by a highly contagious virus. What begins as a project to develop a new immunity-boosting drug based on a virus carried by an unnamed species of bat in South America eventually becomes the virus that transforms the world. The novel extend over more than ninety years, as colonies of humans attempt to live in a world filled with superhuman creatures who are continually on the hunt for fresh blood.

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

Again this book is the first part of a trilogy that continues with “The Twelve” and ends with “The City of Mirrors”.

I love this book because it is an excellent novel, with multi-leveled characters, spiritual mysteries and exciting action scenes. Also the writing is great and well-crafted. So, I really recommend this book, it is an amazing and fascinating read.

In the end, a great young adult novel. This book is perfect for everyone who loves serial killers, murders and bone-chilling plot twists, with young profiler FBI agents:

3 – “The Naturals” is a young adult mystery/thriller by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This is the first book of a series of four.

Plot:

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking at her grandma door: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

This is a fun, fast-paced, intriguing and definitely not predictable read. The dynamics between characters will keep anyone entertained and the writing is also very good. It is the perfect summer book!

The Summer is coming to an end, but hopefully you’ll get a few more lazy, warm days to get some outside reading done.

Hello everyone! 🙂 Today we are going to talk about my top 3 Winter book recommendations.Before we start let me say that these are all fiction books, in order to be lightly entertained on our relaxing snowy day/afternoon/evening/night!

Let’s start with:

•Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham:

– Story line:

It’s January 1995, and Franny Banks has just six months left of the three-year deadline she set for herself when she came to New York, dreaming of Broadway and doing “important” works. But all she has to show for her efforts so far is a part in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters, and a gig waiting tables at a comedy club. Her roommates―her best friend Jane, and Dan, an aspiring sci-fi writer―are supportive, yet Franny knows a two-person fan club doesn’t exactly count as success. Everyone tells her she needs a backup plan, and though she can almost picture moving back home and settling down with her perfectly nice ex-boyfriend, she’s not ready to give up on her goal of having a career like her idols Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. Not just yet. But while she dreams of filling their shoes, in the meantime, she’d happily settle for a speaking part in almost anything—and finding a hair product combination that works.

Everything is riding on the upcoming showcase for her acting class, where she’ll finally have a chance to perform for people who could actually hire her. And she can’t let herself be distracted by James Franklin, a notorious flirt and the most successful actor in her class, even though he’s suddenly started paying attention. Meanwhile, her bank account is rapidly dwindling, her father wants her to come home, and her agent doesn’t return her calls. But for some reason, she keeps believing that she just might get what she came for.

(Yes, the author is the beloved actress who played Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls and Sarah Braverman on Parenthood.)

This novel is a work based on a fictionalization of Graham experiences in the New York acting scene in the mid-1990s.

The story is unique, and sometimes really funny, told through both regular prose and dialogue, and excerpts from answering machine messages, Filofax pages, grocery lists, drawings, ideas etc.. as if they were real parts of the real diary of the protagonist. 😉

Moreover, I love the premises of the book (a struggling actress; bizarre commercials; an attractive guy who is also an actor; strange roommates etc.)

So, this is a charming and laugh-out-loud novel perfect for a relaxing reading during a freezing Sunday afternoon!

P.S: Graham recently signed a deal with Warner Bros Television to adapt the book into a TV series.

When he hears her favorite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love, Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported almost twenty years back to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire… and to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.

This story is anything but simple! Also, it’s really sad and, if you ask me, perfect to read during a dark, cold and melancholic winter evening.

The prose is smooth, almost in a silky way, and very captivating. Also, the descriptions are beautiful, done in long and loving details.

I would say this is a challenging, quite bizarre, but also amazing reading. When you have finished the book, if you want, please tell me what you think of it because, I don’t even know how to explain it, but the ending was really strange, at least for me.

P.S: I’ve read somewhere that there is a movie adapted from this book, I haven’t seen it but I think it is worth checking it out.

When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she has to leave everything behind and move to Paris to live with her grandparents. Kate knows her life will never be the same. But she has no idea how right she is…until she meets Vincent. Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix puts Kate in danger of losing her heart all over again. Especially when Kate discovers his impossible secret: Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny and enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind. And Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

It’s a young adult paranormal/romance story set in contemporary Paris. I loved the descriptions of the various places in Paris, because it is one of my favorite cities in the world and the book being set there added some extra charm to the story of Kate, Vincent and their friends.

I really liked the prose of the author, very enjoyable and captivating. I also liked the mythology of the story; it’s really interesting, unique and very well-constructed.

I have to admit that this book has some clichés, including true everlasting love and some annoying young adult moments, but overall I would recommend it as some very good light reading for a relaxing winter day.

And don’t forget that this is a trilogy so, you will remain with bated breath until the last pages of the third book! 😉

Hello everyone! 🙂 Today it’s a skincare day review and we are going to talk about the Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner. So, let’s get clear our dull and foggy skin 😉

Who is it for?

Everyone who wants a soft, smooth and bright skin.

What’s good about it?

This is not a simple toner! The Clarins Gentle Exfoliator is a liquid exfoliant lotion which can be used to sweep away dead skin cells (that can block your pores) and the day’s grime and pollution, leaving your skin brighter, smoother and softer.

Moreover, its texture feels soft and comfortable on your face; this product will really gently exfoliate the surface of your skin without drying it!

You can apply this lotion in the same way of a classic toner; after washing your face, put a small amount of product on a cotton wool disc and swept it across your face and neck, avoiding the eye contour area. Also, you can maximize the effectiveness of the product by waiting for 1-2 minute before continuing your usual skin care routine.

I really love this acid toner, ever since I started using it my pores are clearer, my whole complexion is brighter and looks healthier, but it’s important not to overdoing it; use the exfoliant once or twice a week max!

This acid toner is gentle per se, but it also has a couple of very active ingredients in it. On the box it says: “this products contains an Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) that may increase your skin’s sensitivity to the sun”. So yes, the AHA can actually make your skin sun sensitive, hence I would recommend using it possibly during your evening skincare routine. However, if you are going to use it in the morning, don’t go outside without a good moisturizer with a proper sun protection.

Final thoughts!

It’s an amazing softening, exfoliating and brightening toner that should be in everyone’s skincare collection. I like to use it especially during the “transitional seasons” (Fall and Spring) for a great skin improvement.

Hello everyone! 🙂 During this hot summer sometimes all we need is a lazy, hazy night in a quiet and refreshing place with a candle and a good book!

Last week I did a post about my favorite candles, so this time I’m going to write about some lovely books that I’ve been reading during this past months and this summer!

So, here we go: the 5 books +1 for a lovely and relaxing summer night:

Let’s begin with the one I liked the most:

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

It’s a science fiction novel that takes place in the year 2044. I really love how the book is written and how the story goes by! It’s fascinating and new with a very unique but brilliant story to read at the beach or wherever you want. 🙂

Plot summary:

In the year 2044, Wade Watts, like most of humanity, escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia. Like others, Wade dreams of discovering a virtual Easter Egg that lies concealed within one of thousands of virtual worlds by the OASIS’s creator, the late James Halliday. Halliday stipulated in his will that the person who discovers the egg will inherit his entire estate, including management and control of the OASIS itself; a prize worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

I know, I know this is not a short and cute novel, but occasionally we can read a super good book that take a lot of thought and close attention 🙂

I was completely hooked by this book, its story line and its characters, and for me this is the best reading time! 🙂 1Q84 is a complex and surreal book which shifts back and forth between space, time and the stories of two characters. It deals with very different themes: murder, history, cult religion, violence, family ties and love.

The events of 1Q84 take place in Tokyo during a fictionalized 1984, with the first volume set between April and June, the second between July and September, and the third between October and December.

Plot summary:

The book opens with Aomame as she catches a taxi in Tokyo on her way to a work assignment. When the taxi gets stuck in a traffic jam, the driver suggests that she get out of the car and climb down an emergency escape in order to make her important meeting, though he warns her that doing so might change the very nature of reality. Then Aomame starts to have bizarre experiences, noticing new details about the world that are subtly different. After reading some newspaper articles, she concludes that she must be living in an alternative reality, which she calls “1Q84,” and suspects that she entered it about the time she heard a strange music on the taxi radio. The character of Tengo is introduced next. Tengo’s editor asks him to rewrite an awkwardly written but otherwise promising manuscript, Air Chrysalis (空気さなぎ). Tengo has reservations about rewriting another author’s work; he agrees to do so only if he can meet with the original writer and ask for her permission. The original author, however, tells Tengo to do as he likes with the manuscript. Then Aomame and Tengo’s parallel worlds begin to draw closer to each other and their fates would become closely intertwined. Now they are each doing something very dangerous, in their own way. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both, but something extraordinary is starting.

Then we can move on to a sweet tale, with lightly dark undertones, about vampires. This is better than Twilight, at least for me:

•Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.

This is a series of six young-adult paranormal romance novels. I must admit that the first one, Vampire Academy [there are 5 other books beside that: Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound and the final one Last Sacrifice] is not as adventurous as the last three, but if you love this kind of stories it will keep you glued to the series for the rest of the summer! 😉

Plot summary:

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess, the last one of her family and a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi, the evil undead vampires. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway makes her a dhampir. She is training to be a guardian of her Moroi best friend, Lissa. In the process of learning how to defeat the Strigoi in St. Vladimir’s Academy, Rose finds herself caught in a forbidden romance with her instructor, while having an unbreakable psychic bond with Lissa.

• I Met Murder by Selwyn Jepson

I love mystery books but this one is a very particular mystery/horror novel from a 1930 author. If you like Agatha Christie’s stories then you will definitely love this one! With a lot of unexpected action this thriller will have you sitting on the edge of your seat and just when you think you have figured out who the murderer is… HA! Good luck with that! 😉

Plot summary:

Eastblyth Manor, known as “the Castle”, is the country residence of John Arden, eminent English sociologist who leads a quiet and lonely life devoted to work. Here, every week, Arden gives evidence of its good taste with regard to wines and cuisine inviting to dinner some eminent guests : the financier Hamish Page, the Reverend Lionel Lake, the writer Katherine Codrington, professor Gilbert Skinner and his young and dissolute daughter. Arden helps the detectives when a rich dinner guest of his goes home to be found dead the next morning. The other guests at the dinner become suspects until the next death throws the whole case into chaos.

Wecan continue with:

• The Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier

It is a series of three fantasy novels that follows the story of Gwen Shepherd, a time-traveling girl living in contemporary London. I loved this book, I read it in one month and I absolutely recommend it if you are a lover of fantasy/historical genre! Kerstin Gier’s Ruby Red is a young adult novel full of fantasy and romance. This is the first book followed by Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green.

Plot summary:

Gwendolyn Shepherd, a 16-year-old student, feels dizzy for the first time during lunch at her school in London. Not long after, she unintentionally takes a sudden spin to a different era! Gwendolyn travels through time several times after the first one and then is finally acknowledged as the last time traveler, the twelfth, whose symbolic gem is the Ruby. Now she has to put her blood into the chronograph, a time travel machine, so that she can use it to travel through time smoothly and avoid uncontrolled jumps.

Gwen must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon de Villers the young time traveler from a similarly gifted family whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwendolyn and Gideon travel through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust with their secrets.

And… drum rolls please… this is my +1:

I left my beloved trilogy for last, but if you have been on this planet and not living under a rock for the last years you probably know what I’m going to talk about:

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

It’s one of my favorite series, I absolutely love the characters and the story line! Last summer I also find out about the movies and since then I became obsessed with this trilogy. If you haven’t read it yet you must give it a shot (FYI, the second book is my favorite one).

The trilogy consists of :

• The Hunger Games

• Catching Fire

• Mockingjay

Plot summary:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games,” a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

That’s all folks, now I’m off to do some more reading! Have a good summer of books and fun. 🙂

Hello everyone! 🙂 Today it’s a makeup day review… yeahhhhh… and I’m going to talk about one of my recently purchases “La palette nude” by L’Oreal Paris in the shade 01 Rosè!

A little premise as always: I have used it in various situations such as cold/hot weather with high humidity.

Who is it for?

Everyone who wants a very portable and low cost palette with good quality powder eyeshadows!

What’s good about it?
This palette is really great compared to others medium/low cost palettes on the market! This L’Oreal eyeshadows are also easy to blend.
I have wear them in many different occasions and they last all day, but you have to use a good eye primer beneath them.

What’s not so good about it?

The pressed powder texture has a tendency to flake a little bit during the application and goes on with less intensity than displayed in the compact. Also, like I said before, if you have oily eyelids I recommend using a good eye primer beneath it.

Final thoughts!

I bought it in an Italian shop, but you can buy it from Sephora or Ulta or Boots .

Compared to others, most famous but high price palettes, this one is a good compromise to have for “on the go” makeup!